Who are you?

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You're not a warrior, I'm not a warrior. A member of Armed Forces is not a warrior; they are citizen soldiers.
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I'll disagree, I think members of the Armed Forces can be warriors, although simple membership is not the defining factor. What galls me are the folks who claim to be warriors who have never been in a war and/or have never worn the uniform of the Armed Forces. And sorry, fellow LEOs, but the "War on Crime" doesn't make it.
 
Since I partly contributed to the direction this thread has gone, it seems only fair that I should say this to the man who started the thread: I'm sorry for my part in causing the thread drift. Instead of jumping into the drift, I should have nudged the thread back toward the OP's intent.

Thinking about it, in a lot of ways, how you see yourself (a warrior, a cornered cat, a sheepdog, or whatever) actually has a whole lot to do with what you are willing, able, and prepared to do when a crisis hits. A lot of people freeze when a crisis comes simply because they have never pictured themselves calmly coping with that particular problem.

Sweatnbullets made a really good point: it's important to understand what your initial reaction is likely to be, and to build from there.

Roger, I don't know if you're familiar with his work, but Tony Blauer does a really good job teaching folks how to physically convert the intial "flinch" into a useful and effective fighting technique. He does not deny the existence of a flinch, or try to train people out of it (an impossible task~!), he simply shows them how to start from that predictable physical reaction and build it into something useful. It sounds as if you're trying to communicate the same basic idea on a wider scale ...?

pax
 
Sorry, but I'll state again, It's just a descriptive term (in civilian life). If I call someone a dirty rotten bastard, am I implying that A) He is unclean and needs a shower? B) He is in a state of decay? and C) His father took off before he was born?
I did my tour, never once thinking warrior - thinking survivor, B U T thinking victorious survivor. Not to say there aren't any real warriors , not by a long shot. It's just not what I felt like.
But we're talking civilian last I checked. In that arena, Warrior Schmorior - that was Mel Gibson in BraveHeart. The closest I can think of in civilian life is service wives/widows. Otherwise, It's just a drumbeat term, and I see no harm in it.
 
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Thinking about it, in a lot of ways, how you see yourself (a warrior, a cornered cat, a sheepdog, or whatever) actually has a whole lot to do with what you are willing, able, and prepared to do when a crisis hits. A lot of people freeze when a crisis comes simply because they have never pictured themselves calmly coping with that particular problem.
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Semantics aside, I think Col. Dave Grossman summed it up very well. He said (paraphrased) Most people run from the sound of gunfire, while the warrior runs toward it. There's a lot between the lines there.
 
TOWARDS!!! Unless he has a shotgun... Than maybe away, REAL LOW! I may run a little dipsy doodle zigzag dance but i am goin' in! Armed with a gun, a knife, fists or feet i am gettin that gun!!! Heck... unless it is a moonless night out here in the country, he has me in excellent silhouette to shoot me in the back and unlike myself BGs have no honor or fear of shooting you! But they do fear a redneck willing to eat their lunch!
I may not be in the majority but I do vote republican!:rolleyes:;)
Brent
 
Feel free to never read anything that I post. I also use my real name (Roger Phillips) at other forums.....real free to not read those either.


I'll take your advice, thanks.
 
I am an warrior, my life's work is to make war, to join in combat and destroy those people and things my nation asks me to. I have been lead men and been involved in the fighting. When I joined the Marines and the only thing I asked my recruiter was can I get combat arms and will I see war? Since that date I have been to war 4 times and have conducted operations against this nation's enemy for almost 3 years. When it was my time to PCS last all I asked was to be sent to a deploying unit. I didn't ask for things that would advance my career like going to school. Or to be close to my son, but instead to go to where the fighting is at.

Combat is a very terrifying thing, but you never will feel so alive as to when you hear the sizzle of a tracer going by your head.
 
Yeah, I'm sorry about my cat-story post, too; I was not trying to do thread drift, I just wanted to illustrate that a cornered cat is not something you want to mess with. I hope I never have to deal with a cornered cat again, because it truly scared the heck out of me, anticipating that my hand, arm, and wrist were going to be ripped/bitten to shreds....A cornered cat is no joke!

A soldier may have a warrior mindset on the offense and defense.
A civilian may have a warrior/cornered cat mindset in defensive mode.

It depends on your circumstances, I suppose.
 
STLRN said:
When I joined the Marines
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Thank you for your service. I appreciate the life that you and other members of The Armed Forces have provided for me. I have lived as a free man for my entire life.

I have just been approved to once again volunteer at our local vets' hospital under the new security rules. Next week will be my first time in quite a while. I promise you that I will render those in my care proper, polite and effective service.

I would ask you one thing. It sounds like you have been in combat for quite some time. As you are well aware, the instances of future problems increase the longer a soldier/Marine spends in combat. My FIL is a Marine. Guadacanal.

And I see the deep sadness of the older soldiers at the hosiptal. Their war shaped entire aspects of their lives.

Please take care of yourself. The jolts and bumps you shake off now can cause joint problems in your future. Don't laugh off sadness and depression with a quick laugh and a SoCo.

You took care of my life. I'd like to make sure that idea is returned.
 
This is not an age of warriors. It is a time where people learn to do their jobs in an orderly and coordinated manner. The protectors of our civilization are rightly people who can be depended upon to be at map coordinate xy at time t with A to their left and B to their right, neutralizing whatever threat would prevent them from achieving their mission.

What am I? Some kind of barnacle on the dinghy of life?

I yam what I yam.

Meeklyagnosticonthesubjectofwarriors
 
Mindset
Tactics
Skill
Equipment

This is the universally accepted order, in importance.

As I mentined in my first post there are those that do not have the make up to be able to step up to the plate mindset wise. Political correctness, the pussification of the American man, and genetics severly limit many peoples ability to reach a mindset where they are willing to do whatever needs to be done to survive/win.

As long as you know that that is who you are, you can build strategies around that lack of mindset. Since you are missing the most important factor inside of the equation you need to come up with something else. Wild in Alaska sems to have some very good ideas in that regard.:D

It does not matter what your level of mindset is. What is important is that you honestly evaluate yourself and realize what your starting point is. Building off of this starting point will allow you to be the very best that you can be.

As pax so aptly put, we are looking to get the subconscious mind into the fight, so that the conscious mind can catch up and take over. There are a number of guys that work off of this initial flinch. This flinch is part of my "dynamic movement draw stroke" and is programmed as an immediate action drill to a identified life threatening encounter. This startled reaction takes care of four of five moves simultaneously that gets me off of the line of attack and gets my gun drawn.

I seem to get a lot of grief here from those that do not know what I teach or to who. Most of the time this is from people that have no training and feel that they do not need any training. To each there own. What I teach is very advanced and I teach it to very advanced people. Over 50% of my students are LEO or military....another 20% are firearms instructors. That leaves 30% as highly trained civilians. Out of this 30% I would say that 25% have been involved in life threatening encounters that enacted dramatic changes in their mindset and their willingness to train to the highest levels. I know about these encounters because I ask. They are willing to tell me because they know that I have been right there in their shoes. Just like them, I am also a civilian that has seen "the evil of man" and had to fight for my life. They also know that I will not judge them as "lowly civilians" like so many of the LEO and military instructors that are out there. This elitism and ignorance frankly disgusts me.

This does not mean that I think that I am a bad ass. I am 5'6" tall and weigh 150 pounds soaking wet, I am also 47 and closing in on the big five 0. I am just unlucky enough to have seen "the evil of man" on a handful of occasions and lucky enough to have trained with some of the very best instructors in the world. IMHO!

Who am I? I am a father, a husband, a friend, a professional, and a part time firearms instructor. It does not matter what role I am in "who I am" is right below the surface ready for the next time "the evil of man" crosses my path.
 
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Sorry, but I'll state again, It's just a descriptive term (in civilian life). If I call someone a dirty rotten bastard, am I implying that A) He is unclean and needs a shower? B) He is in a state of decay? and C) His father took off before he was born?
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Very nice!

"Warrior mindset" is also a descriptive term. It is a state of mind, not a state of being. You do not have to be a warrior to have a warriors mindset.

It is like a petite, sweet, and passive mother protecting their child from an overwelming disparity of force. On paper, she does not have a snowballs chance in hell. But what she has is that she will never stop, quit, or give up. She will fight to the end to protect her child as long as she is conscious or alive.

That is warrior mindset......whether you like the established term or not.
 
Feel free to never read anything that I post. I also use my real name (Roger Phillips) at other forums.....real free to not read those either.


I'll take your advice, thanks.
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ROTFLMAO:D

WildmetooAlaska TM
 
Sweatnbullets said:
As long as you know that that is who you are, you can build strategies around that lack of mindset.
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I know what you mean, but I doubt if it's all the "pussification" of modern man. For me, it's just choice.

I have known, and unfortunately been, the kind of a guy who is edgy, with a bad temper. I still fight it, and I'd better be able to control it because I work with the public.

But in the final analysis, it's just not the guy I want to be. Imagine sitting in a tavern, drinking with a buddy who is so tightly wound up you don't know if he's going to kiss you or kill you with the next sip of beer. And then some of your close friends point out to you that you have those same kind of bad days.

Oh, and the OCD and the anxieties! Yikes, you're a slave to the very image of the macho American man. And you fall for all of the trip-wires.

For example, you're tired and you want to go home, Some idiot yells "leaker" at you and you close the place down. You pay for it the next day with a tremendous headache and a royal chewing from your boss for poor performance.

Harley even had a 1971 advertising campaign for the new Sportster with the tag line "Pull The Trigger." We were lead around by the putz so badly that common SW 29's sold for three times their worth.

Sorry guys, I quit the race. Laugh at the electric starter on my bike all you want. Smirk because I might now only have one margarita per year around Cinco de Mayo. Chuckle as I take my paycheck home to wife without cashing it. Guffaw to your heart's content that I quit my 'adult job' because it was too stressful.

I'm not the guy you want me to be. I'm the guy I want to live with.

And I refuse to be egged on because I don't worship at the altar of testosterone anymore. Ya' know, call yourself a 'warrior' if that makes you happy. Just remember that every drunken townie wants a shot at the champ.
 
Mindset

I am a 20 year medic who can pretty much say I have seen about everything. I read a lot and try to practice what I read as I tell my students we train and practice for something we hope we never have to do but if that day comes we at least have a chance to be the winner. I call it a fighting mindset, or what ever mindset you want but I have seen more then most, the cruelty that one person can deliver on another and I for one will not let that happen to me or mine as long as I can breathe. So call it what ever you want doesn't matter when it comes down to living or dieing you either will or you won't.
 
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